Sweden's long, cold nights might put you off going there in winter, unless, that is, you are in search of that elusive 21st-Century luxury: a goo

Swede dreams: How Sweden is embracing its sleepy side

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2025-01-26 09:30:02

Sweden's long, cold nights might put you off going there in winter, unless, that is, you are in search of that elusive 21st-Century luxury: a good night's sleep.

The ferry cuts through the icy Baltic waters as it makes its way around the eastern Swedish archipelago. Place names like Skarpö, Hjälmö and Gällnö are painted on rust-red huts lining the jetties. The suffix "Ö" means island in Swedish, a pictorial representation of a land mass surrounded by sea with two tiny people about to dock.

I am the only person to disembark at Svartsö, one of the few islands in the archipelago where accommodation remains open in winter. I make my way along a snowy track to Skärgårdshotell where I am shown to a cabin on the edge of a forest overlooking the dark expanse of Lake Svartsöfladen. It feels about as far away from it all as you can get.

My room is Swedish simplicity at its most minimal: a bed, a chair and a bedside table. No television, and not much else to distract me from the pristine tranquillity of my surroundings. This is just as well as I am here, primarily, to sleep.